TBrainBoost

At ERIS we got a chance to talk to Kevin De Pauw and have asked him 2 questions:

What is TBrainBoost about?

Kevin: “Effective solutions for societal problems arise from collaboration and interaction between academia and businesses. The most recent example was the swift collaboration between academia and industry in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Scientists in industry and academia stepped up and developed efficient and safe vaccines in an unprecedented short time.  Nevertheless, global pandemics shouldn’t be the excuse for academia and industry to collaborate. In this project ‘TBrainBoost’, secondments will be the main feature of our methodology in the field of healthy aging.  They represent a solid and actionable foundation for the necessary establishment of new links, transfer and circulation of knowledge subsequently leading to strengthening skills boosting career prospects of all involved, from researchers to R&I staff.  

When planning and implementing secondments we have determined to take a strict and focused approach. All participating institutions have already carefully selected talents that would be seconded to another institution, as well as matched the institution with the person’s professional and personal interests to ensure highest efficiency of these exchanges. When translating scientific knowledge into practice, the field of healthy and active aging will also be enlarged with domains such as kinesiology, nutrition, rehabilitation, biomedical engineering and others. Furthermore, as the researchers are committed to collaborate with their counterparts and allow efficient circulation of knowledge they will also be involved in proposal development. All consortium partners have proven experience in managing EU grants and collaborating within EU projects about the usage of technology, data analysis, implementation of clinical trials, validation of new products to business.  As such, this would in turn motivate all involved researchers to develop proposals that could be submitted for EU or national funding calls in the future.  Two such proposals are expected to be developed and submitted during the lifetime of TBrainBoost project”.

Why is TBrainBoost important to VUB?

Kevin: “With a particular focus on researchers’ secondments, the VUB will take the lead in boosting researchers’ entrepreneurial skills needed for the development of an innovator mindset.  And this to improve their employability and sustainable career prospects. We will do so by preparing business plans in the frameworks of intersectoral secondments, which will teach researchers how to think with market needs in mind.  As an example seconded researchers will be trained -with their mentors- to communicate and pitch to the industry and learn persuasion skills needed in the ever faster changing environment. Business plans that have a high potential of success will be presented at academia-business forums or industry and investor events, eventually resulting in a commercially viable practice or an acquired investment for a spinoff company”. 

AIM

The overall objective of the TBrainBoost is to boost international and intersectoral mobility and improve links between academia, business and society in the field of healthy aging. 

METHODOLOGY

TBrainBoost will achieve this through a series of secondments between academic institutions and businesses working in the field of healthy aging, and a number of educational activities. Based on our methodology, researchers from this multidisciplinary field will enhance their entrepreneurial skills and competences while bringing their valuable research expertise to the industry, while R&I talents will gain new insights and skills to create structural changes that are required to set strong foundations for academy-business collaboration for the future. All intersectoral secondments will also put emphasis on benefiting institutions from widening countries, namely empowering talents from Slovenia and Malta with opportunities to learn from colleagues in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Impact

Ultimately, the TBrainBoost project will create a reality where scientists and R&I talents from all parts of the spectrum intuitively share knowledge, experience and skills to boost their personal profiles, work for the benefit of the aging society, and drive our economies